I'm director of communications and public affairs at a graduate research university in New York City. The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not reflect those of my employer.
Today's crowdsource question: meeting at 3 (EDT) today with IT. Looking for examples of Wordpress-based #highered news sites. Thanks!
Want!
Amplify’d from androinica.com via Google Reader
Barnes & Noble has confirmed the Nook Color, a full-color touchscreen e-reader and tablet all in one – all powered by Android.
At a special unveiling in New York, America’s largest book retailer unveiled a touch sequel to its popular Nook e-ink device released last November. The Nook Color, which is 8.1 inches long 5 inches wide, sports a 7-inch touchscreen. The screen includes a “VividView” that includes 16 million colors with 1024 x 600 resolution. It is treated with reduced glare for better viewing outdoors and includes a backlight for reading in low-light situations.
Nook Color ships with an as-yet-unnamed version of Android that has been heavily customized and built specifically for this device. Barnes & Noble has pre-loaded special versions of Facebook, Pandora, Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Chess, and a host of other extras. There’s also a heavy focus on reading newspapers and magazines. There’s no Android Market support and Barnes & Noble has no plans at the moment to include it. However, they will launch an SDK and developer outreach program for creating apps targeting the device.
Another refutation of Malcolm Gladwell's recent article, this time from the nonprofit sector.
Amplify’d from www.nten.org
No, it's not the newspaper. It's Malcolm Gladwell's over-discussed article, "Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted".
Why are we spending so much time talking about this? The over-simplification and generalization in Gladwell's article has been covered -- here, and here, and here, and here, and even here. The Atlantic has responded, The Huffington Post has responded, The New York Times has responded. And now, dear readers, NTEN will respond.
Why are we all so defensive about a discussion that has no basis in reality?
It seems to me that each successful social action is born of extremely specific circumstances, a perfect combination of awareness, support, political climate, and planning unique to each situation and movement. Gladwell has us all worked up in a tizzy (as my mother would say) about the meeting of two movements that will never meet. Instead of fighting the good fight, we're all discussing how to fight.
So, Malcolm Gladwell, I join the ranks of those who disagree with you. The revolution most certainly could happen on Twitter. It will also happen at the lunch counter, in our homes, and most importantly in our communities -- wherever they may be.
Read more at www.nten.org
Looks interesting, although I haven't been a big user of Scribd.
Amplify’d from techcrunch.com via Google Reader
Reading isn’t a particularly social activity, but talking about reading and sharing books, articles, and other documents is highly social. Book clubs are so popular because people identify with other people who share the same reading interests. Document-sharing site Scribd wants to become the place on the Web where a million reading clubs flourish . With a redesign rolling later today, it will now start calling itself a “Social Network For Reading.”
Read more at techcrunch.com
OK, this is pretty cool.
Amplify’d from mashable.com via Google Reader
First there was Google Instant, and then the novelty apps Google Maps Instant and YouTube Instant. Now, my friends, we have iTunes Instant. And the creator of said app, Stephen Ou, is younger than various pieces of my wardrobe.
Read more at mashable.com
Amplify’d from 37signals.com via Google Reader
I’m really liking Google’s design lately. Even though people would say, “It’s ugly and stripped down or whatever.” The decisions they’re making I think are really wise. Everything’s based on speed. And the more you use it, the more you realize speed trumps aesthetics in most cases. If you can be fast and good looking, that’s great. But I think I’d almost prefer fast.
Read more at 37signals.com
So, who's going to sign up for this?
Amplify’d from www.downloadsquad.com via Google Reader
Apparently, flashy features have been put on the back burner in favor of working on a system of intuitively deciding which groups have access to your information. It sounds like the four NYU kids who founded the project are taking the privacy angle seriously. That's good, considering that the Diaspora concept arose in response to Facebook's bungling of its own privacy challenges.Read more at www.downloadsquad.com
I spotted this on The Next Web a couple of weeks ago, and a search of my Google Reader subscriptions doesn't show anyone other than TNW writing about it.
I signed up for an account about a week ago, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how well I've been able to keep up with it. I was never much into keeping journals, but answering a daily email has been really easy. In fact, I look forward to receiving that 8 pm email that asks how my day went.Amplify’d from thenextweb.com via Google Reader
Back a few years ago, we all had LiveJournal accounts. After that, we had accounts at Blogger and the like. The advantage to these, of course, was that you could share your writing with the world. OhLife thinks that maybe we should keep those doors shut.
OhLife is a web-based journal application that, while remaining completely private, has its own little ways to prod you into writing daily. Each night at 8pm, you’ll get an email asking “how did your day go”. Respond to that email and your daily entry is posted in your OhLife journal.
Interesting example of crowd sourcing relief information for a natural disaster.
Amplify’d from google-latlong.blogspot.com via Google Reader
Google’s Crisis Response team has provided satellite imagery and KML layers to assist relief efforts in past disasters, including the Haiti earthquake and recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In Pakistan, however, the cloud cover over the impacted areas has inhibited our ability to make this valuable content available. The Crisis Response team is looking to collect and aggregate imagery and user generated KML, or other map data, with the goal of making this content more accessible to both crisis responders and the general public. We’re hoping you can help. You can submit links to KML and map data via the following form. We’ll contact you if we are able to publish your content.
According to the UN, the recent floods in Pakistan have affected over 4 million individuals - and the human toll continues to grow. Disease is an ever-increasing risk as relief agencies rush to the aid of those who have been hurt or displaced.
Seeking map data in response to Pakistan floodsRead more at google-latlong.blogspot.com
In the words of the immortal Homer J. Simpson, "It's funny 'cause it's true."
Amplify’d from xkcd.com via Google Reader
I'm director of communications and public affairs at a graduate research university in New York City. The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not reflect those of my employer.
I'm director of communications and public affairs at a graduate research university in New York City. The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not reflect those of my employer.
Theme created for Posterous by Obox
